The Aftermath
by soheil solitarius
Summary: DISCONTINUED; see "ADSUM" : post-ewatlo au. spoilers for both games.
1. Act I, or The Worst Pain

Yay, a BK fic! Honestly, this is total crack. Also, I wanted to see some medical stuff in this section and MOAR GELDOBLAME. I love that guy! And- this is the best part, kiddies, listen closely- Emperor Geldoblame + McPercio + Lava equals Crispy, Homestyle Emperor Tentacular -- in other words, a believable, medical..uh, ish...reason for him to lose some fecking weight. :D

Alright, so, this is crack. And AUish. So. Um.

BEWARE, FOOLISH MORTALS, LEST YE FEEL THE WRATH OF MALPERCIO. 8D

(Wow, I'm a dork.)

Warnings: gore, language, occasionally suggestive stuff, Geldoblame, OCs (if you're squeamish about them, I guess), medical crap, and completely and utterly AU (yet slightly believable) crack. XD

--

_This was positively the worst pain. Icy, yet it burned so much. Limbs twisted, stretched, clawed at the surface as skin caught fire and burned away, layer by layer crackling into the lava. Barely able to hear over his own howling screams and her sing-song laughter as lava ate away at his skin, that was what he decided. Nothing compared to this._

_As his mutilated skin slowly began to whither away, he was barely aware of the excruciating pain- and only of the sound of the gunshots and that horrible maiden's laughter._

--

As the sergeant squinted through the heat waves of the Lava Caves, he scowled. They had sent him to look for the Emperor and he had immediately refused. Truth be told, although it seemed childish, the Emperor actually frightened him to an extent. How could one not be at least a _bit_ scared with someone at least three times their size in the vicinity?

Caro squinted again and scowled as he delved further into the Caves. He hated the heat with a burning passion.

Wait...what in all _hells _was that? Caro examined an impossibly large pool of crimson blood soaking into the floor of the caves, and he whirled around, now morbidly terrified of what could be hiding in this damned and forsaken cave. He heard a steady dripping, macabre and slow above him. He looked up, mouth agape, and tasted a mouthful of bitter, coppery blood, dripping from the stalactites- now dripping from his mouth, as well- and he smelled the bitter stench of death and corpses. He swore he felt something-- someone? -- grab at his ankle.

He screamed- and someone answered- a low howl, the bellow of a wounded animal, it seemed.

Caro dropped to the bloodstained ground, shaking and hurriedly wiping his mouth in horror and haste. He slipped in the blood and he fell, legs splayed painfully, to the edge of the ground, inches away from the bubbling lava, as well as the twisted, screaming face and agonized, mutilated body-- one tentacle-like appendage where an arm should be flailing pitifully as it's owner howled again-- of none other than Emperor Geldoblame. The grotesque appendage slapped at Caro's face as an overheated, meaty hand gripped at his hair.

The man in the lava hissed a plea at him and Caro shakily (albeit disbelievingly and obediently, as if in a horrible, horrible dream), pulled his emperor's ruined body from the lava. He, still shaking, reached into his deck, searching hurridly for _some kind _of healing magnus.

_Anything_ to make him stop screaming.

--

They'd rushed Geldoblame into the hospital as soon as Caro returned to Mintaka, and then to the emergency room (Caro had been lead away and quickly treated for minor burns and trauma in the meanwhile). The doctors had been frantically yelling orders at each other and trying to restrain the emperor, who was screaming in pure agony and through bloody tears all the while, body quaking and muscles straining as they tried to operate. One of them shoved a woman out of the way, tossing her an oxygen mask and pointing to Geldoblame. Her lips twitched behind her surgical mask, itching to chew them out for pushing her away from her own _job_, but instead she just settled for trying to force an oxygen mask over the emperor's mouth. His body gave a horrible jump, back arching high into the air, and one of the other surgeons shouted over then din, "His lung just collapsed!" (Meanwhile, a young nurse choked back vomit as an arc of blood spurted onto her clothes; she slumped against the wall, hurriedly trying to rub it off.)

The female surgeon, still dueling with the oxygen mask, stared at her superior quickly, only temporarily disengaging herself from her battle with the oxygen mask. She leaped back as she felt Geldoblame's teeth sink into her hand.

"This bastard bit me!" She howled, waving the threatened appendage incredulously.

"Shut up Ba'nee; just make sure he can breathe!" One of the other female surgeons shouted at her, waving one hand disdainfully. Grudgingly, Ba'nee went back to the oxygen mask. Slamming the heel of her rubber-gloved hand against Geldoblame's painted forehead, she forced the mask over his mouth and held it there until he stopped struggling with her, closing his eyes part way in exhaustion.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Ba'nee yelled to the other woman. She looked up at Ba'nee and shouted back,"Help us keep him down, and _keep the mask on_!"

Ba'nee pressed one hand into his right shoulder, feeling the bone beneath his skin all too well as she tried to keep his body still. With the other hand, she held the oxygen mask on the lower half of his face.

For a moment, she watched the other doctor's hands. There was at least seven in the room, but only two were actually treating the Emperor's burns; the others were all restraining him and he bucked and struggled. I twas obvious he was delerious; he didn't know what was going on or who was touching him and cutting him or even _why_-- all he knew was that he was in _pain_, and he didn't like it.

His burns were first degree, grizzly and grotesque, taking up most of the left side of body; the lava he had been apparently dunked in had eaten most of the fat on his body away; even some skin and muscle tissue, to an extent. The skin showing on his right side- the skin that hadn't been very badly burnt, that is- was pinkish in hue; raw, unbelievably painful, and decidedly disgusting to the touch- even with gloves on, as they made it emit a nasty _squelch_, resulting in Geldoblame howling in agony. His left arm was the worst, however: it was- seemingly- partially a tentacle; covered with rubbery skin and scales that were ripping off as the arm transformed, backtracking and attempting to return to how it should have been, while oozing copious amounts of blood. It smelled rank, like a burning corpse. The nurse in the corner choked again when it emitted a drip of rotten ink.

Geldoblame screamed into the oxygen mask and arched his back again, toes curling, and Ba'nee's right hand flew from the mask to his chest to hold him down. The mask slipped off his lower face as he howled once more, and Ba'nee removed her left hand from his shoulder to reach for it, but she couldn't catch it in time. It hit the linoleum tiled floor of the emergency room at the same time as Geldoblame gave a loud hacking cough and blood spattered Ba'nee's face.

She would have screamed (or at least attempted to wipe all the damn blood off), but now her only thought was of retrieving the mask. She ducked under the operation table quickly and groped for it as the other doctor's yells got louder (and she heard her own name much more often). Her hand closed around it, and she sprang back up just as Geldoblame's breathing became more ragged and haggard. She held the mask over his mouth, and, this time, he didn't struggle, but breathed deeply, sucking in the sweet, uncontaminated air; utterly dependant on it, almost like a baby with a bottle. She looked up, and one of the other surgeon's glares caught her eyes. She looked back down quickly, and focused on nothing but keeping the Emperor breathing.

His dark eyes were rolling and roving in their sockets now, branching veins bursting and snapping like defective spiderwebs, and it made Ba'nee dizzy to look at them. She blinked and looked quickly over the rest of his face; his nose had a large gash across the bridge, and was presumably broken, and his left cheek was burnt rather badly, but no where near as badly as his chest or stomach. His lips were painted red with hot, sticky blood, which was currently...filling his oxygen mask!

Ba'nee pulled the mask off his the lower half of Geldoblame's face with a loud, wet smack as his nearly boiling blood unstuck from the plastic, and grabbed a towel, with which to wipe the blood off his face with. Once the blood had stopped oozing temporarily, Ba'nee replaced the mask and got to work.

--

About forty-five minutes later, the surgery was done, and Geldoblame had been placed in a secure ward. He was currently being looked after by the lead doctor Eizich Paine, accompanied by two nurses.

"Hey," a woman called to Ba'nee, offering her a tentative wave and a weak smile,"That was some shit, huh? Who would have thought that 'His Magnificence' could get much uglier. Did you see the tentacle?"

Ba'nee laughed tiredly at this, replying,"Hey, hey, that thing was pretty magnificent in itself. What _happened_ to him?"

The other woman grinned, "Maybe the Lord of the Lava Caves got to him," she suggested, grinning wider. Ba'nee smiled, remembering her favorite childhood fairytale. (Legend, really, but enough of that.)

"In any case," the girl continued, "Paine is some wild kind of bitchin' pissed. You pulled a hell of a stunt with Lord Geldoblame's O2, Mattie."

Ba'nee groaned.

"_Fuck._He's out to get me, I know it!" She hissed vehemently.

"No--"

"Yes he is. You know it just as well as I do, Kayte. He's a contemptuous bastard...and it doesn't help us one bit that we're full-out Azhani. I wouldn't have it any other way, but...you know what? _Fuck him--_"

"Shh!" Kayte hissed, "Do you _want_ to get fired? Listen, if the man wants to bitch, let him and don't lose your temper or you're screwed."

Ba'nee sighed as she attempted to scrub the dried blood off her cheek with a paper towel in the sink's basin. "That doesn't bolster my spirits, Kayte."

"Yeah, well, be good, or you'll get dunked in to Ocean for sure. It's like, what-- two feet away now?"

Ba'nee heaved another sigh. "I'll try to _'be good.'_ But no promises," She growled.

Kayte smirked. "atta' girl!" And with that, she left Ba'nee to the grueling task of rubbing Emperor Geldoblame's blood out of her hair.

--

"So you're serious. Actually _serious?_"

"Yes, I am."

"No joke?"

"None whatsoever, stone-cutter."

"You're sure. _None?_"

"None."

"I'm not doing this. I'm not."

"I'll fire you. You _know_ I will."

"But I'm a _surgeon,_I'm not gonna be the emperor's goddamn nurse!" Ba'nee exclaimed, fuming,

"If you don't quiet down, I'll fire you anyway. You're lucky that you're even working, Azhani," Eizich Paine snickered.

"I hate you. Do you know that, you insufferable fuc-" Ba'nee began, before Eizich deftly cut her off.

"I love you, too, Ms. Mategro. Now- go give the emperor a sponge bath."

"No. No way!" Ba'nee yelped, choking deep in the back of her throat and waved her hands in front of her face, purpling very slightly,"No, no, no; no way in the _lowest levels_ of _hell._"

Eizich chuckled, "I was joking. But enough of this useless chatter...I have thing to do that don't involve _you_, Mategro. So, if you don't get to room 116 in two minutes, I won't hesitate to-"

"Yeah, 'fire me', I know. _Buh-_bye." With that, Ba'nee spun on her heel, executed a well-practiced eye roll, and started off toward room one-hundred-sixteen-- now more commonly known as the emperor's private ward.

--

Ba'nee carefully pushed the door to room 116 open and slid inside. Geldoblame was resting on his back, hands folded peacefully over his bare, now painfully thin, stomach. He looked almost emaciated compared to his former stature. Ba'nee examined him carefully, wondering if he had really been sleeping or not. He was barely moving, save for the slow rise and fall of his chest, so after a bit, Ba'nee assumed that it was safe to assume that he was sleeping.

She stepped forward, brushing a strand of hair off of her forehead, and crossed the room to his hospital bed. He moaned softly when she came near and Ba'nee hesitated, just slightly, to move closer for just a moment. She leaned back and observed him again before sitting next to the bed quietly. She observed the burns again, almost unable to tear her eyes from them. The ones on his face weren't _that_ bad, but his chest and stomach had really gotten the brunt of it. She assumed he must have been able to stay away from the lava for a bit, because otherwise he'd undoubtedly be dead.

Ba'nee just couldn't help but to feel compassionate for the man. No body deserved this.

_It's a wonder he can sleep with all the pain he must be going through_, she mused, _Even if he is a frea,k a cradle-robber and a gigantic ass to boot...I can't help but feel bad for the sucker._

Ba'nee stared at the burns again, still unable to help herself (she had never treated burns this bad before- of course minor sunburns, this was Alfard, after all, but never, _ever_lava burns. Most avoided the Lava Caves with vigor). The skin was beginning to flake off in places, exposing the raw, pinkish skin beneath. It gleamed with a thin sheen of sweat. Ba'nee leaned forward, examining it a bit closer, pushing her glasses back on the bridge of her nose.

Suddenly, Geldoblame's eyes snapped open, and he jumped back, his body heaving itself against the wall with a loud, sticky thud. His head lolled back for a moment as he attempted to catch his breath. Ba'nee jumped out of her chair, knocking it over with a clatter, and pressed one hand to the middle of his chest, directly over his heart. It was beating very quickly, only slowing just a bit as he attempted to breath normally. For a moment, Ba'nee felt rather guilty that she may have been the one that scared him, but disregarded it as she removed her hand cautiously from his chest. "Hey," she whispered, "it's alright. You're fine, okay?" as she turned around to pick up her overturned chair.

Geldoblame appeared not to have heard her. He was still breathing very fast, and his breaths were ragged. He took in a great gulp of air and clutched at the stitch of his chest, eyes shut tight, mouth moving at an alarming pace, but quite silently. His lips split and bled and he continued to rant silently. Ba'nee spun around to look at him, a dropping the chair again in her haste-- and her eyes widened. She leaned closer to him, speaking quietly, asking if he was alright; trying to calm him down as if he were a young, helpless child. It was not working, to say the very least.

He was gasping for breath now, his sweaty chest positively heaving. Ba'nee hissed in frustration; she wasn't by any means a nurse, but a surgeon, and hence had little a clue as to what to do in this situation. She spun around and frantically searched for the right pill, shot, anything to make this stop.

She heard a loud, rasping scream behind her and whirled around, fingers closing over a shot of morphine. She was face-to-face with Geldoblame. He stopped moving for a moment, and then scrabbled and clawed at her shoulders, whispering, his eyes wide and out of focus,"Malpercio!"

--

Holy buckets! This was pretty long for a first chapter! 8D Anyway, more to come soon, as I thoroughly plan on finishing this! Reviews will be _very_ appreciated.

(Also, no, the oxygen masks don't haves straps in Alfard. XD No, it's not just me being lazy, I sware.)


	2. Recurring Questions?

The Aftermath: Chapter Two

xxx

A gasp. Eyes fluttered open and observed...blackness. Where was he!?

...It was dark.

It was _too_ dark.

He felt his chest rise and fall slowly, felt the air escaping his lips as he tried feebly to breathe. He sucked air in pitifully and tried to move.

He screamed.

Burning pain, burningburningburning his skin, he screamed again and again; louder and louder untill his throat tore and then he screamed louder and thrashed and still tried to get up, still wondered where he was. Suddenly, his head dropped back onto a pillow and his mouth went slack and he couldn't breathe again. The overexertion of screaming had left him helpless and unbearably tired. He closed his eyes tightly and let out a choked sob.

Again- that reoccuring question: _Where am I?_

He tried weakly to get up, and he still couldn't.

He let out another ragged sob, then a soft whimper. His eyes snapped open; he mentally slapped himself, and locked his throat against the cries. They formed a suffocating lump in his throat, but he wouldn't give in. He was stronger than this.

He screamed again, eyes clenched shut, but this time, he expected the pain. He fisted his hands and held back the next scream that ached to be heard. He wouldn't let it. He was stronger than this!

_He was stronger than this!_

He sobbed again. Was he?

Oh, gods, it was so cold.

And then a light clicked on. There were people surrounding him, pawing at him and asking if he was alright. He tried to speak, tried to tell them no, _it hurts_, but not a sound escaped his lips.

More people. They had syringes and pills and some were standing in back with clipboards and, and, and-- it was too much. He couldn't breathe again. He closed his eyes and wished that they would go away. Of course, they didn't.

"Emperor? Emperor Geldoblame?"

He heard his name among a slur of voices and sounds both in his head and in reality, and he moaned in response, body starting to shake.

A moment later, he had passed out.

xxx

He awoke in darkness once more. He was beginning to hate this place. It was cold and smelled like chemicals and disease.

Cursing this...this _prison_, he tumbled back into unconsciousness.

xxx

He was very sure that he should be dead.

What had happened to him? He remembered...laughter. And Malpercio...the...end magnus...and...

MELODIA.

It all came back to him in a rushing flood of memories. Melodia had betrayed him! And so had Fadroh! Those insufferable children had tricked him!

It had been in the Lava Caves, Kalas was there, he knew. Yes, he had fought Kalas' little rag-tag gang with his new body. His new, utterly mutated body. They had won, and he lost control over his body...

Melodia had waltzed in with...five?--six?--_four_ Imperial soldiers, and _his _little Fadroh. She laughed, and they shot him at Fadroh's command.

Then everything sizzled away and burned and melted and bled and there was nothing but pain, pain, pain, pain...and her laughter.

_I used to love her laughter_, he found himself thinking as his eyes began to water again (though this time from frustration in place of pain). He hissed in anger and rubbed his eyes, forcing the helpless tears away, and realized that, miraculously, he felt no pain.

This was, no doubt, quite a surprise. He sat up and the blankets that had been covering his body dropped away. He gasped and stared at his own chest, stomach, arms, hands as if they were foreign objects.

His body was, quite frankly, ruined. Disgusting burns and cuts, gashes, lacerations, even, covered his left side, although, (to his complete and utter relief) the right side of his body seemed almost unharmed. He decided not to even look further, figuring that it could only get worse and worse and worse...so he dropped back against the headboard of the bed and tried to remember what had happened after those damned children had bested him.

Nothing came to mind, so after a while, he gave up and tried to determine why he felt no pain.

This time, something clicked in his (superior, imperial) mind. The chemical smell, the decay and sickness surrounding him, this was obviously a hospital! He was being drugged! He, _the emperor_, drugged! _Well_, he decided as he drifted giddily back into sleep, _at least the pain hasn't returned._

_xxx_

A/N: Who wants to be the one to tell him THAT FADROH'S FREAKING DEAD? Ooh, it's gonna be gooooood! ...I'm a really, really horrible person, aren't I? (Well, unless I say"fuck cannon, this is A-fucking-U anyway! :D" which I just might, hehe.)

Okay, so: this was a pretty short chapter, but it's not really a huge plot advance, so that's okay. It's pretty much just Geldo freaking out, having minor panic attacks, and realizing that he got screwed over big time. So yeah. Not much, but it'll be important in he future. ThanksalotMalperciolulz.


	3. Almost Sure

Excuse the shortness of this chapter, puh-lease. It's sort of...setting the stage for angst and sorta-kinda-maybe-but-not-really-sentimental-ish-because-it-depends-what-your-definition-of-what-"sentimental"-is-stuff and all that good crap. Ba'nee will act kind of nice and we get to see her in action with a patient. Specifically Geldoblame. So don't expect her to be this nice outside of interaction with extremely screwed sideways patients. Specifically Geldoblame.

Things will get waaaay more interesting soon, though, because before this chapter, there has been virtually nothing happening aside from Geldo sleeping. Which is not interesting in the least SO: Caro will end up making a comeback, Eizich will return to be an asshole, Melodia will do some stuff in Mira, and shit will go down, among other things later, haha.

But: a least a bit of recovery needs to at least begin first, because without it, people will die. Again, _specifically Geldoblame_. SO.

An bei das fic!

--

It had been two weeks, and Ba'nee was told that she must help him walk. Recovery needed to begin, whether or not he wanted it to yet. (It seemed rushed to Ba'nee, however.)

So she gripped his left wrist and held him up; lifted him into a standing position. She almost smiled at his compliance.

Almost.

He wobbled, unstable for a moment and quickly composed himself. Very slowly, she released his wrist. He trembled. She watched him.

He fell. She didn't help him up. Slowly, he pushed himself off of the cold floor, careful not to disturb the still-healing burns on his hands; the skin was only beginning to grow back.

Once again, he stood and looked at her. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, shoving her glasses into her hairline and silently imploring him to walk to her. He took one step forward, still shaking, and then another. He stopped again, composing his features into something acceptable, something worthy of an Imperial such as himself. He took another step, but his knees gave way and he slumped back to the ground.

She almost offered him her hand.

Almost.

He rose again; halfway to her, and took yet another step. An absurd phrase came into her head- _baby steps_- and she almost laughed. (Almost.)

"Come on," she whispered, as if coaxing a small, frightened animal, "come on." He growled at her, unimpressed, disgruntled, that he, the _emperor_, was being treated like a sickly _pet_. She smirked, rather proud of herself; it had worked.

He looked down at his feet and straightened up. She knew that this was his way of saying _wait_,_ give me a moment, damn you_. The room was almost completely silent—almost, save for his quiet, harsh breaths as he shifted his feet and stumbled forward again. This time, he took three steps. Again, she was tempted to offer him her hand.

This time, however, she did. He did not take it, and closed the gap between them with another two steps. She gripped his shoulders firmly when he began to shake again. He stopped quaking and looked abruptly at her. There was no need for words. She could, for the first time, read his face like she had no other patient. It was so obvious; a simple, disbelieving statement: _I can walk.._

He laughed quietly, shaking again, shaking with something almost foreign to him now—not pain, but mirth.

She would have cried, simply for the sole reason that _this patient would live_; he would move and breathe and hopefully, recover well. This would not be like Operation Sweep; this would not result in mass deaths, this would not result in _that_. This could not. This, she was capable of fixing.

A crash disturbed her and threw her violently back into reality a she went down as well. He growled in agitation and broken pride next to her as he unsuccessfully attempted to stand as effortlessly as she could. She grinned teasingly (maybe a bit nastily), and held out her hand.

He grasped it.

And then she knew that he was going to recover. This she knew for sure. He would be back to normal someday soon, someday later, _someday_. This she knew for sure.

...well, almost, because if he ever smiled at anyone like that again, she would be almost sure that this was not Emperor Geldoblame.

_Almost._


	4. Because He Deserves a Second Chance

This is rather uneventful and weird, but it actually kind of **has to happen for the beginning of the next chapter to make any sense.**So. Geldoblame's aliveness is shouted at the public and Ba'nee and Caro ramble about "twenty years ago."

...and really, this is kind of me rambling, too. But only for the parts directly concerning Geldoblame—the rest is Ba'nee. So I really kind of feel bad and I don't know why. D:

...BUT THERE IS LYUDE ACTION SO FUCK YOU ANGRY VOICE IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD I'M NOT FUCKING CHANGING ANYTHING BECAUSE YOU SUCK AND ARE JUST HERE TO MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A CRAPPY SUETHOR WHICH I AM NOT SO HAVE A CUP OF STFU. :D :D :D

**(EDIT:**My my, I had no idea that "Lyricello" was a fan-made name. Just shows what dire need there is for Katana to PLAY ETERNAL WINGS, I guess. D:

Anywho. Credit for the name goes to the lovely Willowren; be intensely proud that you've come up with such great fanon, bb! :D**)**

--

"Citizens of Alfard..."

All of Mintaka and Azha combined are contained in Mintaka, just outside the hospital. Some sit, some stand.

"We are here to inform you of certain...umm, developments."

The Mintakans are restless next to the Azhani. The Azhani look hopefully to one of their own where she stands on the podium, a soldier to the left of her, at the right, a young redhead—obviously the famed Lyude Lyricello—who is next to yet another, elder man who stands quietly, his hands clasped behind his back. His pleasant smile is obviously fake as he looks over the crowd of stone-carvers.

Lyricello continues to speak, but not before shooting a look almost like a glare at the man beside him.

"We sincerely apologize for any confusion on the matter and will answer any inquiries afterward," Lyude whispers, his throat dry, "however, ah, we _must _insist that you listen closely." His voice rises a bit as his confidence swells. He hands his microphone to the man next to him, and Eizich Paine takes it, bowing his head in mock respect.

"As you all know," he begins, "Alfard has been preparing for elections in the recent death of Emperor Geldoblame, correct?"

The crowd nods, some mumble in agreement.

"These elections will be halted."

The crowd begins to mutter amongst themselves. Lyude hushes them quickly and Eizich continues.

"These elections will be halted for the sole reason that we were quite wrong about our aforementioned emperor."

A few eyebrows cock amongst the people. Surely this must be a joke...?

"Emperor Geldoblame, quite simply put, is alive."

Eizich hands the microphone to the soldier, shoving the woman just the slightest bit out of his way. She glares at the back of his head. The soldier accepts the microphone, fumbling with it for a moment before holding it up to his lips and nodding; mumbling to himself. He steps forward and makes shakey eye contact with the crowd before starting to speak.

"M-m-my name's Caro L-LaDuf; I—I was dispatched to the Lava Caves three weeks ago, and ended up pulling your emperor out of the lava. He has not...er, disclosed how he managed to survive the way he did, b-but he's currently, ah, livin'."

Caro has been strictly instructed not to disclose the fact that Emperor Geldoblame was found near an inanely large pool of blood, nor that his arm had been replaced with an appendage closely resembling a tentacle. His outburst about the Wicked God, Malpercio, was entirely forbidden ground, as far as everyone else was concerned.

He hands the microphone to the last of the four, the Azhani woman- the surgeon Ba'nee Mategro.

"I, in turn, feel that there are thing that must be told to the public," she starts, "and of course, I, being a woman with medical training, feel that it must be stated that there...there is..." she clears her throat loudly, "no definite chance of Emperor Geldoblame living through this ordeal." She glares sharply at Eizich and a few Azhani in the crowd whoop. She grins at them before stepping out further on the podium and continuing.

"Although there is not a definate chance, the most surely is one! However slim, with the right medicine, with the right professionals, with the right care, rest assured that we will do what we can for him, and that Alfard will not be left astray without it's leader."

I am fully aware that many of you...you know what? No. I am not saying this. This is _pow crap._Everyone, please- I know that most of you hate him- especially Azhani. But I am also aware that many of you agreed with Geldoblame at many times during his rule. I know I am one of you who did _not_- I am one who felt contempt and even, at times, hatred toward him. No to say he isn't a perfect _ass_now, but I...I've seen a side of him that I know full well many of you haven't. I've seen him smile like a little kid because he could stand on two feet. I've seen him happy for reasons I don't even know. I do know that when he was smiling like that, I wasn't because he was being a malevolent crazy...freak, I know that it was because-- and this is simple, folks- because he was genuinely happy. Have you ever seen that from our emperor in the twenty years he has ruled over the Alfard Empire?"

People shake their head reluctantly.

"See? He's...I hate to say it, I really do, but he's not a bad person. If I'm right here, he started ruling our empire at the age of twenty-six. Many of us couldn't even dream something like that at that young! Geldoblame did do a lot of horrible things, yeah. He did hurt a lot of people. I don't know why he did it, honestly.

Listen, how many of you were here when Emperor Baelheit launched his ship, that fake continent, Tarazed?"

A few adults and elderly raise their hands.

"I, myself, was seven. My family didn't go. We chose to stay in Azha. Machina wasn't a concern of ours. We knew he would come to his senses. Well...we hoped. Baelheit died that day, didn't he? And that same day, his metropolis fell, didn't it?  
Honestly, I didn't really care. I don't know why Emperor Baelheit did that. All I knew was that I lost some people close to me way back then. Azha is like a big extended family. I lost a brother, in a way. I don't know what happened to him. Sometimes I still wonder. But the point is, a lot of stuff happened twenty years ago- and where was our emperor? Anybody know? Because I don't. Come on--oh..._you _do?"

She turns to Caro.

"Yeah," he replies, "he w-w-worked for one of the Imperial Candidates for emperor. Not Lord Baelheit...um--"

"Quaestor Nero Verus," Lyude says quietly from across the podium, "I believe." He finishes sheepishly.

"Yeah," Caro continues, reddening slightly, "Verus. I heard that guy was a war hero way back. But he...umm, went crazy or someth—"

"That's enough!" Eizich shouts.

"No!" Ba'nee and Caro round on him simultaneously. The crowd leans forward excitedly on the balls of their feet.

"_What_—"

"Please, sir," Lyude whispers, "let them finish."

Eizich glares at him sourly. "Go on," he hisses grudgingly.

Ba'nee starts again.

"All I wanted to say is that Geldoblame... isn't necessarily a bad person. He's a human, just like the rest of us. He, like some of us, were exposed to some generally...bad things. Does anyone remember the monsters all over the Skies? They we're called..._Malpercio's Afterlings_, right? And Geldoblame, no doubt, knew what they were. Who's to say he wasn't the least bit frightened of their power, like a lot of others? But then...who's to say he wasn't fascinated? We don't know his motives, see?

I think he was a good person, though. Once you see someone smile like that...you feel something. You know that, no matter what, they used to have a big heart and true, beautiful wings.

All I wanted to say was...let him start over, because he deserves a second chance. Thank you."

In the crowd, some gape. A few clap. That few grows—it grows and grows, and grows, and grows. Caro walks up next to Ba'nee and grins. She grins back. Lyude strides over to her other side and bows his head to the crowd.

The others do the same as they make their exit, each one's thoughts swimming, making them almost too dizzy to remember how to walk.


	5. A Little Tangled Up

So, as promised, Melodia will make her grand entrance this chapter! But don't worry, she and Caro will be doing moar next chapter. :3

But in the now, catch the live show of eyebrow-less Emperor Geldoblame trying futilely to dress himself! 8D

--

Today (a Monday), Ba'nee observed for the first time in weeks, was kicking off quite well. She was in high spirits for the rest of the week, and even the antics of Geldoblame and Eizich couldn't bring her down. In fact, she found the former quite spectacularly hilarious, because today, Geldoblame had done an absolutely fabulous job of tangling himself up in his own robes. Ba'nee had walked quietly into his room earlier that morning, and was now watching in barely stifled amusement as he attempted to dress himself for the first time in quite a while. She snorted into her hands as he managed to get his head stuck in the sleeve of his shirt and flailed around a bit, obviously quite unaware of her unannounced presence in his private ward.

"Hey, d'you need any help? You look a little...tangled up." She inquired, snickering.

Geldoblame visibly jumped and uttered a muffled growl at her from his sleeve. Ba'nee almost burst into explosive, unladylike hee-haws as he spat out a mouthful of cloth.

"_I_ do not need any help from the likes of _you_," he hissed, wriggling, although his hostility was outweighed by the sheer hilarity of his tangled body, "I can _dress_ myself."

"Apparently not," Ba'nee chuckled, striding over to the emperor and yanking his head out of his shirtsleeve. She deftly gripped one of his wrists and lifted his arm into the sleeve.

"Any better?" She asked, grinning. Geldoblame scowled at her, his bare brows lowering.

"You can't do that right when you don't have eyebrows, Lord Geldoblame," she stated calmly, although grinning enormously. He huffed and flopped back onto his pillows, closing his eyes and sighing as if he'd just damn near ran a mile. Ba'nee quirked an eyebrow.

"Up," she commanded, pulling him by the shoulders.

"What?" He groaned and struggled, to no avail.

"I have something for you," she tempted, "so get up."

His curiosity got the better of his fatigue and Geldoblame propped himself up on his good elbow with minimal hardships, although he refused help, then looked at Ba'nee through the corners of his dark brown, half-closed eyes. Ba'nee reached deep into the pocket of her scrubs and fished around until she had found just what she was looking for-- a letter addressed to none other than Emperor Geldoblame...and from none other than the Heir to the Duchy of Mira herself! There was a tiny package along with it.

Geldoblame's eyelids had fluttered peacefully over his eyes again, so Ba'nee waved the letter about in front of him, creating a wave of stiff parchment air in his face. He blew out a breath and huffed again, opening his eyes to observe this new annoyance, but noticing his name on the paper waving gaily about in front of him made him uneasy and excited at the same time, so he reached out for it. Ba'nee promptly pulled it out of his reach, and, he assumed, she was waiting for him to bat at it like a playful bunnykitten before she gave it up willingly. His lids lowered in dismay and his hands flopped down at his sides again, slim, heavily bandaged fingers twitching.

Ba'nee, obviously put off, raised her thin eyebrows and shook her bangs out of her face. She opened and handed him the letter, and Geldoblame took it eagerly. She tossed the tiny package to him, as well, which he fumbled with before gripping it tightly in one hand and setting it down next to him.

"Pfft, take it, you bugger," Ba'nee said, her smile back on her face from ear to ear yet again as she turned around and polished her spectacles, leaving him wrapped up in his own little oblivion in Melodia's letter.

_Emperor Geldoblame,_

_If you are reading this...happy birthday. Lady Melodia does not forget, you see! ...I would not forget such a thing. In any case, __I quite hope this letter finds you in...well, relatively good health. I am well, myself, if quite tired and equally worried. I am getting used to many changes, as well. My hair is...well, you'd have to see it to believe it; it's quite the drastic change!_

_Well, on to business- I know you have never truly been one for such niceties, Geldoblame. _

_Grandfather had informed me not long ago that you were in the Mintakan infirmary, in a private ward with severe burns. I shall accept the blame for your injuries, and I will quite understand if you never...if you never wish to communicate with me again. What do you say? _

_...I will understand if you reply negatively, however, because that is obviously your choice._

_I do have but one question, although only if your decision regarding my previous inquiry is what I have been so (hopefully not quite as futilely as I believe) greatly hoping for. _

_I want to see you...badly. May I visit you in Mintaka? _

_Please reply. It would make a lonely girl like me ever so happy. _

_Always,_

_Lady Melodia, Heir to the Duchy of Mira_

_P.S. I believe this is yours. Kalas returned it to me not long ago, thinking it was my own._

Geldoblame sat and stared at the letter and read it over and over and over again, a second, a third, a fourth time, and as he began the fifth repertoire, Ba'nee turned around from polishing her glasses and examining the envelope in which the letter had come in.

"So?" She asked, cocking her head to the side and jumping slightly as she nearly poked herself in the eyes with the tip of her glasses.

Geldoblame dropped the letter onto his chest and closed his eyes.

"So what?" Ba'nee repeated, carefully replacing her glasses and blinking owlishly at him from behind their lenses. Geldoblame picked up the small package and began to open it. When he was finished, the little box revealed a gleaming, golden ring, which the emperor clutched between two fingers.

"...my ring," he whispered. Ba'nee stared.

"Ring, Emperor Geldoblame?"

Geldoblame didn't look at her, but instead touching the letter with but one finger, turning the ring over in his hands and swallowing harshly.

"I have had it for twenty years. Maybe longer. I must have...dropped it when...when I--" Geldoblame suddenly regretted speaking.

"Say no more, all of Alfard knows, anyway," Ba'nee said darkly, "and probably all of Mira, too," she added thoughtfully.

Geldoblame continued, "I must have dropped it...and the _raven_ found it. He _stole_ it from me," he hissed, "and he gave it to _her_. I wonder what kind of proposition he was intending to make!?" Geldoblame shouted, spit flying from his lips as he grinned wildly, madly. Ba'nee too no notice.

"I...don't believe it," Geldoblame continued, a bit more controlled than before, "The sickly little bird actually _thought_--"

"Actually _thought _of returning something to a royal lady? I think she'd have had his blunted head had he not. She was prepared to kill all in the Skies who 'denied the power of Malpercio,' was she not? You, emperor, are jumping to conclusions. As stupid as the kid sounds, he's a legend now. One of Six," Ba'nee said, tapping an extended pointer finger, "Besides, I thought he was with that chick from Wazn? The one with the pants?" to empathize her point, Ba'nee waved her open palms in large, circular gestures in front of her upper thighs, "Those were wild." she finished, nodding sagely. Geldoblame turned and looked hopefully up at her, tearing himself away from his thoughts.

"The Ice Queen?" He inquired, nearly begging.

"That's the one. Queen Xelha, I guess. I've heard that Kalas kid has the hots for her. Hope they don't melt all of Wazn," she chuckled. Geldoblame rolled his eyes before speaking again.

"The others," he said.

"...what?" Ba'nee flicked her head to look at him directly, some loose hair flying behind her.

"Are you daft?" Geldoblame growled, "You said there were six. That's two. Or did they not teach you to _count _in Azha--"

This, it turned out, had struck a chord. Ba'nee rounded on him, shoving her angular face into Geldoblame's and hissing, "If you want to know about Azha, maybe you should pay them a visit! I'm sure they'd all be happy to see the man who ruined their lives!" Ba'nee pulled away, fuming. The nerve he had! There was still enough hate around Mintaka, but it wasn't to be encouraged by their emperor! Ba'nee's fists shook as she calmed herself. "...or should I say 'New Azha?'" she whispered, "_We're_ making a miraculous recovery, and _our _thanks go out to Sir Lyude Lyricello_._"

Geldoblame's eyes widened.

"Who!?"

"Why should I tell you?"

Geldoblame grumbled something unintelligible under his breath.

"What?" Ba'nee snorted and went about looking for something in her scrubs again.

"I..._apologize._" Geldoblame mumbled, his face contorting in dismay. The emperor needn't apologize, but now this woman had such power over him! It was decidedly and unbearably very unfair, although he couldn't help feel that he was just a bit out of line. Geldoblame brushed off the thought and folded his arms over his chest, looking quite like a child in a time-out. Ba'nee sighed and gave in.

"...thanks. It means a lot to a lot of people, I hope you know." Ba'nee said softly, once again convinced by something as simple as an apology that this was _not _Emperor Geldoblame, and smiled quickly. Geldoblame looked over at her and returned it partially before scowling heavily.

"Lyricello." He insisted. Ba'nee snorted.

"Fine. He's Three, I guess. He came back to Alfard a few weeks or so after the time some Sergeant found you boiling away in the Lava Caves, and ended the cruelty to the Azhanis, first off. I've heard that he's half and half; I might have even known his mom way back when I was little. Anyway, people wanted to make him the new emperor--"

"What!?" Geldoblame spat incredulously, propping himself up to glare it her. Ba'nee was not fazed in the least by Geldoblame and continued.

"--be quiet, Geldo."

"Don't call me that! My name is _Gel-do-blame!_"

"Alright, _Gel-do-blame,_" Ba'nee snickered, poking him in the arm for empasis as she pulled a chair over from the corner of the room and sat, "Sir Lyude actually publicly declined the position. He said there were probably others more fit for it, which I personally doubt, but this was before your...alive...ness...was released to the public. So you're still the big guy, just not literally anymore.

"Anyway, they told the world leaders first as soon as you were awake; Ladekhan, Corellia, Rodolfo...all of them-- and the leaders told their people. You were sleeping through most of that, actually, but it was Sir Lyricello, Sergeant Fashe, Doctor Paine--" here she paused to snort in disgust, "--and I that told Alfard. Azhanis weren't all that excited, but there were a couple people cheering, I guess. By 'a couple' I literally mean 'two,' by the way. But I don't know what Sir Lyude's doing now, because I'm locked up on-call for surgeries or with you all the time, so I don't know any more. Anyway," she continued, looking up at the clock on the far wall, "I have to leave and meet with Sergeant What's-His-Face in maybe ten minutes. Will you be alright on your own? ...because I already got some nurses on call. They'll be here soon. Bye, Geldo...uh, blame."

And with that, Ba'nee left the ward and Emperor Geldoblame to his own raging thoughts. Maybe ten minutes, maybe an hour, maybe a week later, three nurses entered room 116, two looking particularly anxious- one looking just plain frightened- where they asked him useless questions, prodded him with metal devices, and were generally unpleasant.

--

Ba'nee hurried down the halls of the hospital, rather anxiously adjusting her glasses. She wondered, with mild amusement, how this would go. There were two ways, she figured, good or bad, and she intended to stick with the former.

As she rounded the corner, she saw her target wandering about in front of the large (in her opinion, almost oversized), revolving doors that signified the entrance to the Mintakan Infirmary (looking rather unsure of what he was doing and exactly where he was). He looked around and visibly perked up a bit when he noticed Ba'nee.

"You're..." He began tentatively, "you're, uh, Geldoblame's surgeon?"

Ba'nee nodded. "Yup. I feel like more of a caretaker, honestly, but no matter. Follow me...?"

-

"Caro," he finished, holding out his hand, "I'm Caro. Um...miss...uh..." he mentally kicked himself for not remembering the lady doctor's name before he'd come in. He felt painfully stupid and his offered hand began to shake. The girl didn't notice and shook his hand enthusiastically.

"Ba'nee," she said, "You can just call me Ba'nee. I've never been a sucker for formality."

_Pretty._ Caro grinned.

"Awesome..._Ba'nee._"

--

Lady Melodia was brushing her hair. She did that often, running her fingers through it after every stroke of her comb. She liked it. It was soft and silky, not coarse and greasy like her old hair had felt.

_It is not tainted,_ was what she thought.

There came a gentle knock on her door, startling the young woman out of her thoughts.

"Melodia, darling?"

She put a hand to her chest and sighed, a small smile sneaking across her face in relief. "Grandfather?"

"May I come in, dear?"

"Of course," Melodia cried incredulously, her small smile growing as she walked to the door and her fingers found the knob, turning it and ushering her grandfather in,"You are never unwelcome, grandfather."

Duke Calbren entered his granddaughter's room, leaning heavily on his cane, one hand behind his back. Melodia touched his shoulder and giggled, "What is it you have, grandfather? Not more hair ribbons I hope, I think I have too many now!"

Calbren looked at his granddaughter and smiled. She was returning, slowly but surely, to the sweet little thing he had always remembered, there was no doubt.

"A letter," he said, "a reply."

Melodia's jaw dropped, what little color the was in her face drained. "A-a reply? From _whom?_"

"Here. I think you'll be pleased to find out yourself, darling."

Calbren held out the letter with a shaky hand and Melodia took it, fumbling and nearly dropping it in her barely-contained excitement.

"I'll leave you be dear," Calbren whispered in his old, shaky, well-loved voice, as he exited and closed the door to his granddaughter's room.

Melodia sat down heavily on her bed for such a small girl and tore open the envelope with her bare hands without even looking at it. She knew where and who it was from. What she _didn't_ know was what was _in_ it, and that was all she cared about.

She unfolded the letter, her hands still shaking. The writing itself was a shaky, distorted (but still legible, thank the stars) cursive:

_Melodia,_

_I am glad to know that you are well, firstly. I..well, it seems apparent that you already know. But I am making a...slow recovery._

_I thank you for my ring. It is...very important to me, as you know. Although I cannot wear it, due to bandages and healing burns and other such nuisances, I do keep it close.  
Yet another thank you seems in order as well, as you, dear, seem to have had to remind me of my own birthday! Thank you darling; all this sleep seems to have been doing a bit of a number on my memory, don't you think? Oh...well, no matter._

_Lastly (although it seems quite obvious to say this now), I do wish to continue to communicate with you, Melodia.  
__...I also wish to see this new hair of yours! (Maybe when you come to Mintaka?)_

_Sincerest Thanks,_

_Emperor Geldoblame of Alfard_

Melodia grinned and pressed the letter to her chest with one hand, exictedly twirling a lock of hair in the other.

It seemed she would be going to Mintaka, after all...


	6. For the Music of the Skies, We're Crazy

...I'm such a sap. I fail. (But I sware, it'll have things to do with ze3 plot. Also a little Caro!development, which is good? 8D;;;;)

—

"'m sorry—I—I—I have some p-problems with m'—um—speech, y'know?"

Caro coughed and looked nervously around the room. It was a pristine white, chairs, walls, doors, the ceiling, and even the table in front of him was a perfect, pure _white._ He blinked owlishly and looked up at Ba'nee. Her glasses reflected light into his eyes and he hissed, looking down at his heavily-booted feet. He felt quite out of place in the hospital.

"It's fine. You don't need to apologize," Ba'nee said quietly, twisting a lock of hair around one finger, "It's not like I mind."

Caro flushed. He hated his damned stutter. Ever since he was a little kid, he could never talk right. He had a sneaking suspicion that there had been something he was allergic to in those _woods..._

"I—I've tried speech therapy, but it's—"

"Expensive? You bet. Bugger it, baby."

"Yeah. You wouldn't believe how little I make, even, y'know, defending the cuh-country. You must m-make big bucks though..." Caro figured doctors must be important—so they had to make good gold, right?

"Nope," Ba'nee smirked, "I treat the emperor himself more than anyone here and I don't even get a raise. You know, I could help you out. A little therapy for a couple weeks, free of charge," she winked, "Because I like you, sweet thing."

Caro felt hot blood rush to his face as his stutter came back full-force (it didn't help that she was pretty, either), "Uh, thuh-th—thanks! I don't know what t' say—I—"

"Just don't tell anyone, okay? Because people around here don't really take to handing out free things to the needy. Imperial Pride," she snorted, "Or some pow crap."

Caro still was speechless. Normally? He was chewed out and ordered not to speak. Now? He was offered help! Imagine—someday he would be fixed!

The army had basically just _let_ him end up Sgt.—if only because his family had paid a hefty price to get him into it; Alfard had never really taken kindly to foreigners, and Caro had been "just some rich hick," for the first few years.

But when he fought? He was respected. Nothing mattered—nothing but a grizzly tooth-and-nail brawl, with all that rushing adrenaline; the racing heart, the taught, straining muscles, the way he was dizzy after every kill, but he just kept going. (His stutter was always positively awful after a brawl, however, so Caro usually tried to stay as quiet as he could.) And that cool, quiet composure and discipline? _That_ was what made him respected.

For like five minutes. After that, in the _aftermath_, he was just another foreign freak.

"Hey, you."

Caro jumped and rubbed the back of his neck, grinning sheepishly.

"Uh—ehehe, um, yes?"

"I said 'Where are you from?' Because...you really don't look all that imperial, you know." Ba'nee winked.

"O-oh," Caro muttered, rather startled, "I'm from Sadal Suud. Well, m-my family moved around a lot. I grew up in Pherkad, but then we upped to Komo Mai when I was thirteen a-and we ended up in Mintaka a few years ago. Country boy," he chuckled faintly, running a hand though his hair quickly, "We had money, so duh-despite my bein' foreign and all that, I got enlisted in the army. I met Geldoblame once," he added, "di'in't puh-pruhticularly like him much. He looked at me fuh-funny." Caro finished, shrugging. Ba'nee giggled and Caro arched an eyebrow.

"I-I'm sorry—" she gasped, "But oh, you should have seen him with one of our poor nurses. He scared the poor guy off! 'Is a spongebath completely out of he question, or should I get on my hands and knees and _beg?_' Quote-unquote; his exact words." Ba'nee was attempting to stifle her laughter in her hands now, turning a funny shade of magenta that clashed with her hair horribly.

Caro snickered. "Suh-_seriously?_"

Ba'nee lost control of her laughter again. "O-o-oh _yeah_." She snorted, "He—he loves doing it, too. You should see him _laughing _afterward_. _But he did end up depressed that he didn't get his spongebath. I offered once—don't look at me like that; it was just for kicks—and he had a coughing fit trying to get away from me. He's so _snotty,_" she scoffed.

"Wow," Caro giggled, "Suh-sounds like your hands're pruh-pretty f-full."

Ba'nee grinned. "Mmm-hmm. I still have surgeries to do when the day is over, too. It's not very pleasant, smelling like the emperor until you go home at..." she paused, "really, really _late,_ but I love my job. And Emperor Geldoblame just makes things interesting...when he's not sleeping. Which...actually isn't often."

"Really? He suh-sounds s-so... active?"

Ba'nee shrugged. "Nope. He sleeps more than anything. Some intern actually thought he was dead, so I hit them both with my clipboard. The intern apologized profusely and Geldoblame was "unable to trust me," mopey, and generally a piss for the rest of the day. His normal self, of course. Honestly, he's not happy unless...no. Never you mind.."

"What?"

"No, never mind. We were supposed to—"

"—talk about him. G-generally, that's the gist of it. Or, thuh-that's wh-what I was told? What were you saying?"

Ba'nee sighed, defeated. "Geldoblame _will_ probably be...mmm, grumpy to say the least, if you slip that I told you this, okay? But do you know the Lady of Mira?"

"Lady M-Melodia, right?"

"Exactly. They've been sending letters back and forth for a while. Lady Melodia—again, do _not_ tell people this or they'll find out what a big mouth Ba'nee Mategro has and I'll probably get fired; you don't want that, do you, sweet pea?—she's coming to Mintaka to see him soon_. _Only a few doctors, big high-ups in the army, and Geldoblame himself know."

"Wow!" Caro cried, before clapping his hands over his mouth hastily, "I—I mean, uh, _wow,_" he whispered, blushing, "Th-they're letting her back here!?"

Ba'nee heaved another sigh. "Yes. Her grandfather—the Duke, but of course, you know that—convinced everyone that she has nothing to do with Malpercio's power anymore. She seems like a pretty normal girl, really, but I'm not so sure I'm ready to buy it just yet. I don't think anyone will be letting those two out of their sights, though."

Caro nodded and chuckled quietly before Ba'nee continued.

"Lucky for us, Geldoblame can't go far, anyway."

—//—

Ba'neetook a soft breath as he left the room, waving flippantly. She realized that her heart was positively _racing_ and chuckled. _Don't be a schoolgirl,_ she chastised herself with a sneer, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"See you soon, hon," she whispered to Caro's retreating form.

Having a bodyguard would _totally_ brighten things up. A _handsome_ one, at that. She smiled.

"Soon."

—//—

Caro, meanwhile, bending down rather dangerously close to the ground, plucked a little blue flower from between the cracks in the cobblestone and smiled, thinking of her hair. He twirled it between his middle and forefingers and grinned, flushing rather proudly.

—//—

Struggling to pull himself into a sitting position, Geldoblame sighed. He rubbed his eyes, defeated, and snorted, before flopping over and hissing as he slowly returned to sleep, his painted eyelids fluttering over his dark eyes and his hands resting peacefully over his chest.

—//—

Melodia twisted a lock of hair broodily as her grandfather continued to _lecture_ her ("Stay with your guards," and "be careful, be careful, be careful," occasionally grouped in with the dreaded "_don't talk to strangers,_") She idly wondered when the liner to Mintaka would come and almost smiled. Almost.

She looked out the window at the sinking sun and darkening sky.

Melodia _swore_ she heard a symphony; a symphony of the stars, the moon, the constellations, the sun, the planets—seranading her and only her. It was utterly insane, but...it was serenading her all the way from Alfard, she liked to think.

(And wasn't she _still_ just crazy enough?)

—//—

Geldoblame awoke later, just as the sun began to droop into the Ocean, painting its canvas of waters in bright oranges, deep rouges, perfect, peaceful puce and majestic golds. He stumbled to the window, steadying himself at the sill and looking out over Alfard, the ocean, the sky, its depths just beginning to become salt-and-pepper sprinkled with gleaming stars, constellations, other little glowing planets.

Geldoblame he _swore_ heard music.

He heard a concerto—harps and flutes and timpani and clarinets.

It was _insane,_ but he heard the melodies of Mira—and he figured that he was _still_ just crazy enough.

—//—

Hearing the symphonies, the concertos, the music of the skies, both threw open their windows and sang out to the clouds.

(One of them just did it in a more... severely crippled way than the other.)


	7. Sleep, Baby, Sleep

Melodia was originally going to enter this chapter, but...yeah. I write as ideas come to me, so if she doesn't show up next chapter, it's because I thought of something cool. It's building up to her batshit crazy awesome superpowers anyway ffff don't judge me. 8(

But while I'm still yammering--because I feel like saying it now, even if I should have done it sooner--Ba'nee has an accent. Kind of like BKO Geldo's, but a not as thick. It's just more fun to read chapters with lots of 'neespeak when you can.. "hear" her, imo. :D she's sort of awesome when she isn't being off her rocker and stressed? (I'm going to blame Emperor McTitties 8|) or idk maybe she's a total sue. D:

I'd also like to take a short moment of silence right now. Please, if you're reading--take a little moment of silence for those who lost their lives seven years ago, and for their families. I feel truly grateful that (most of--but this is for a different reason altogether) my loved ones are still with me.

Thanks. :D

Enjoy the chapter, guys. It's a little on the sad/creepy side, but hey, we're gonna get creepier as Melodia makes her ~grand entrance~ anyway. WOOO

also iiiii'd just like everyone to know that pretty convinced this is terrible and it makes me want to cry a little bit BUT FUCK IT I really  
really  
really  
needed to post.  
sdjfklflkasjlksd why do i hate my writing so much tonight fkljsldjflksjdflkfjlksdjlf ;_;

--

"You're insane if you think we're letting you two alone. You know that, don't you?"

"_You _are the insane one if you think for one moment that I will be held back from my arrangements by you."

Ba'nee snorted and shoved her glasses up on her nose, rolling her eyes and rapping her fingers impatiently on Geldoblame's bedside table. "_Arrangements, _Geldoblame? _R--_"

"--you will address me as _Emperor _Geldobla--"

"--not if I can help it. Now, _really?_ I think this _arrangement_ of yours is more of a_ date._" She fluttered her eyelashes in a mock-flirtatious way and let out a barking laugh as Geldoblame crossed his arms over his chest and scoffed, sinking further into his pillows as a faint, pinkish hue arose on his pale face.

"It is most certainly not a 'date.' It is simply a-a-a--"

Ba'nee giggled. "A-a-a what? ...I think you want to _score,_ emperor!"

"'Score!?'" Geldoblame shrieked, his dry throat creating an ugly grating noise. His eyes widened as a darkening pink began to climb higher and higher on his pallid cheekbones, "I-I--you..._you,_ for the last time, will address me as _Emperor Geldoblame!_" He cried, rubbing his throat and scowling.

Ba'nee watched him change colors for a moment longer before grinning and replying, "Okay, Geldo."

The dark puce grew to a kind of pruny purple and Ba'nee grabbed her clipboard in order to quickly take her leave of the emperor's room while snickering quietly into her hand. Geldoblame, meanwhile, yanked a pillow from under himself and howled a string of muffled profanity into it as she exited. When he removed it from his face, huffing and puffing and panting, he closely resembled a tomato with lips. He tucked a lock of hair behind one ear weakly and concluded, with a weak chuckle, that the woman would be the death of him, even if she _had_ saved his life.

--

Nurses and receptionists scurried about in the lobby as Ba'nee made her entrance, staring about behind her glasses and dully noting the commotion. It was to be expected, but something seemed different about today. She gasped in a painful realization, it was almost as if someone passing by had stomped hard on her toes, and one of the scampering hospital workers noticed her dismay; she passed it off as a cough and flashed them an all-too-fake-and-all-too-bitter smile and they continued on their harried way with a shrug.

He wouldn't have told anyone, would he? Ba'nee thought back to her conversation with the soldier; with Caro. She'd liked him...she'd liked him enough to jeopardise her job, even. But she had said so many times not to tell anybody, hadn't she? He didn't seem untrustworthy; he hadn't even looked it--those things were easy to tell with military men--but...what if he _was? _She could lose everything over this, _it wasn't possible!_ She concluded that it would be best to sit down and think this over, finding herself a chair near the corner of the spacious (but cluttered, nonetheless) hospital lobby. It was ugly and uncomfortable, but it would have to do.

What had she done? She had been so strictly told not to divulge information on any patient, but Geldoblame was special; he was the emperor and he was _special,_ but most of all, he was entrusted to her...and_ he was special._ Not one person of the public was told anything other than that their election ballots were useless and that "oh, yeah--he really just _walked into _the bucket, he didn't really kick it." And she had told some worthless, scummy, probably-out-drunk-and-telling-his-buddies-right-now soldier that the soon-to-be Duchess of Mira was making her way to Mintaka to see their emperor without any kind of coherent thought?

Indeed she had, it seemed.

Dumb bitch, stupid broad, mental little lovesick _slut,_ she chastised herself. Her face sunk into her hands and she "coughed" away a hysterical sob. She was losing her job now, she knew it; when she lost her job she would have no money and no home and--_and what about Geldoblame? _She couldn't leave him with--

"Uh, h-hi. Is this umm, a bad time?"

She jumped so hard that her chair rocked back unexpectedly and nearly toppled. Caro reached out and grabbed her shoulders, hauling her shaken form to her feet. Lifting her tired, tear streaked face to the young man before her, Ba'nee bit her lip and swallowed, grinning another all-too-false grin.

"What are you _doing_ here? You scared me half to death!"

Caro swallowed harshly and brushed hair from his forehead. "S-sorry. I, er, that is to say...I-Icameheretoseeyou."

Her hair hung lank in her face, sticking to her skin in sweat and tears and there were dark half-moons under her eyes; she looked older than she was--barely twenty-seven, and suddenly going on forty, but she did her best to look happy as she smiled weakly, but at least this one...this one was very real, if rather weary-looking. "You came here for me?" She repeated as, unbeknownst to her, the smile grew.

Caro wrung his hands and stared awkwardly down at his booted feet; the laces were untied on one foot and he seemed to consider doing it up again before he looked up and mumbled, "Yeah; I'm here t'--t' see you. I kind of thought...I wondered if..."

Ba'nee's smile grew helplessly larger and she willed him to go on with a nod.

"I wondered if you'd like this," he finished quickly, albeit clearer than she'd ever heard him. And with that, he produced a small, powder blue flower from his pocket. He twirled it between two fingers and offered her a smile.

Ba'nee bit her lip and tried not to grin. "It's wonderful. I love it."

Caro was visibly relieved. "Oh, well then, uh, here. Y-you should keep it!" He took a breath and closed the distance between them, stepping forward and pulling her head to his shoulder to weave the little flower's stem into her hair. They stayed like that for only a few more seconds--seconds that felt like minutes, hours, days and they didn't even mind that people were starting to stare after a moment--before pulling away. Caro muttered something and looked back down at his feet, shuffling and dancing nervously. Ba'nee smiled, brushing a wisp of hair from her face.

"You're sweet," she told him, touching his shoulder lightly, "But I...listen, it's _imperative_ I speak with you. _Now._ Come on."

--

"I didn't tell anyone," Caro whispered, squirming awkwardly in the cramped closet. He tried to ignore how close they were pressed together and felt himself blush.

"You're sure, Caro?"

"Y-yeah--of course I'm sure; I promised you I wouldn't, d-didn't I? I...I'm not like other people, Ba'nee; n-not other people around _here, _at least. I k-keep my promises," he assured her, looking imploringly into her her eyes through those spectacles, gleaming dully and sporadically in the flickering, fluorescent overhead light.

"...that's...that's good," she whispered, "I never thought you were like that, believe me--but how can one be sure anymore? It's hard to be logical--it's hard to be sure of anything, now when...well, when none other than _Geldoblame_ is _alive_ and bitching in the next room. I know this is a hospital, but...he has more than good doctors on his side. He has luck. And...no. No--"

"What?"

"I can't tell you here. Once _she_ leaves...you'll know."

"...fine. C-can we leave now? My fuh-foot is in a mop bucket."

--

"When is Lady Melodia arriving?"

"Soon." Ba'nee muttered, looking up from her clipboard at Geldoblame, who was nearly dancing with excitement in his bed. It would have been sweet, were he not heavily bandaged in places and severely burnt in others. There was a particularly ugly swell of crosshatching burns and boils under his left eye; a trickle of fluid--maybe blood, maybe pus--slid like a grotesque tear down his cheek and dripped from his jaw. His eyes were wide and exuberant; he was happy, but not in a natural way. He had been drugged. Ba'nee didn't like this falseness about the lazy little smile etching across his face; she didn't like drugging him, period. She reminded herself to ask her superiors if it was really necessary...and not to let it happen again, even if it was.

"How soon?" He asked, still bouncing despite his depleting high.

Ba'nee huffed an exasperated sigh and began to stand. "Within a day." She shoved her clipboard (marked with Geldoblame's full name and birth date; she was filling out his weekly status) onto the end table next to his bed and picked up a washcloth. Slowly and gently, she dabbed at the fluid, a sick-smelling mixture of blood and pus that made her painfully fearful for Geldoblame in the back of her mind, drizzling down his cheek. He tipped his head back against his pillows and closed his eyes, sweetly agreeable in his drugged state. In was nothing to worry about.

So why were her eyes filling with tears?

"Let's get you cleaned up nice, all right?" Ba'nee blinked them away and talked to Geldoblame slowly; whispering not-quite sweet nothings in his ear. She knew that by now, he couldn't hear her anymore, but it mattered that what she did was always, always gentle when he was like this. It was imperitive that he wasn't frightened. The words, spoken in Geldoblame's rasping shriek, _Malpercio, Malpercio_ echoed through her head. She sighed and shook the thought away, dabbing lightly under his eye.

"You're all right."

His eyes were still open, but they were glazed with a thin sheen of--tears? Maybe.--and his mouth was agape. He smelled faintly of cologne and old blood. Ba'nee pulled open his robe, gently scrubbing the grizzly, bloody rain dripping from his jaw off his shoulders. He mumbled something--_Where is he, I need him,_ or _Where is he, is he still in there? _

"Shh. He's right here," Ba'nee lied, "He's right here; he wants to see you."

Geldoblame's dark eyes spilled over with tears. Ba'nee swallowed and slowly wrapped her arm around his shoulders, pulling him close to her.

"He's right here," she told him, rubbing his good shoulder lightly, "He wants to see you."

Geldoblame stayed still and unmoving, tears streaming down his cheeks. He slurred out something else: _Tell him I need him,_ or _Tell him I love him._

"He needs you, too," Ba'nee whispered, her voice husky and thick with tears, "He loves you, too. He-he wants you to stop crying. Please," she pleaded, "you'll make us all cry, Geldoblame."

_I'm not crying, I'm not. _Or maybe it was_ I'm not crying, I _won't.

And then, unable to stop it, she herself began to cry--harsh, painful cries from deep in her throat that made her wince. But she couldn't stop. Not now.

"He loves you," she sobbed; her glasses fogged up and tears clung to her eyelashes, "He loves you."

She didn't know who _he_ was. She didn't have a clue, but she wanted to know; she wanted to find this _him_ and _end this._

By now, fear had crawled up inside her throat and was screaming its pitiful little cries in her own voice, wrapping around her throat and _squeezing_ until she was sobbing brokenly. She clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle a wail and ground her teeth against another one. A throb of white hot pain echoed through her head and she hissed in pain, biting her lip. This fear, this ache in her heart--in her head, too--was felt collectively across the hospital for just one moment--one little _Did I forget to give her that morphine?_ or _I _must_ have bandaged him right or I'd know by now, _moment--but it was paining Ba'nee the worst. For her, it was _He could be dying and we could never know,_ it was _He could be in agony and we're letting him lay barely responsive in a hospital bed, surrounded by drugs drugs drugs of every sort. _She supressed a cry, a near scream, and her grip tightened on Geldoblame's shoulders. He didn't move, save for his steady, if slow, breathing. What she had felt--the anxiety, that fearful rush that she could be losing her job--

_leaving Geldoblame with someone like Eizich_

--in the lobby was only a prelude to this; this evil, awful hurt.

It was the pus, that damned bloody pus dripping down Geldoblame's cheek had struck her like a heavy blow to the stomach; it had winded her and left her in physical _pain. _She had never dreamed it, but she feared for his life in that one moment, that one he-could-be-dying-right-now moment.

And she knew, in the logical part of her brain that was on stand-by for the moment, that it was nothing--and yet, she hurt.

_father daddy papa I can't let him die I can't let him hurt I won't let the fucking lava take him like it took you oh fucking god_

She took a deep, shuddering breath in and looked down at Geldoblame. His eyelids were drooping; she would have seen every single tear clinging to his ginger eyelashes if she had pulled off her glasses. He was warm against her, breathing in jerky little gasps occasionally, but calming down. He was warm, and she still didn't want to let him go because the he-might-be-dying moment still lingered.

So she didn't.

And in that moment, she promised both he and herself that she would not let that heathen god-girl kill him again. He was getting his second chance, whether the last little particles of Malpercio liked it or not. Let the islands return to the sky. Let the Ocean dry up. Let the Sun burn out.

Just let Geldoblame see _him_--whoever _he_ was--again.


	8. False Purity

I feel like this chapter needs moar. D: I hate how it turned out so short, but's it's also everything I wanted it to be. Everything, and somehow less.

Poop. :C

* * *

As Melodia stepped through the glass double-doors, she shivered. Suddenly struck with a chilling, icy wave and despite the high sun and consistent heat of Alfard, Melodia felt goosebumps rise along her arms, hair arising along the back of her neck. She twirled a strand of her bangs around her little finger as she resisted the urge to shiver again. Instead, her body quaked harshly and she coughed. It was this place. This clean, pristine place, with it's whitewashed walls and utter spotlessness...while at the same time, the disease and madness and sorrow and death was masked by a kind of false purity. Melodia saw flashes of white light when she closed her eyes from the fluorescent overhead lights. It was unbearable. _She wanted out_.

But no. No, she couldn't leave. Not now, not when she'd come all this way to see someone who should have been dead and gone and out of the world, but just wouldn't give in. She supposed it was admirable; she truly did like the man, even if he was more than a little quirky. She idly wondered if the music she had been hearing for the last week was really, truly his. _No,_ she told herself,_ that's silly. His fingers--he said so himself--are bandaged. He probably cannot even walk. I'm crazy. _

Melodia shuddered again, but not because of the cold, not even the smell of death, which she knew by now all too well. She shuddered at the though of those unfathomable, big deer-in-the-headlights eyes he had always had, bandaged over because they had, simply put, _melted. _For a second, Melodia pictured him pulling off the bandages, rasping out a little, "Hello, Melodia," or a "How have you been, darling?" while his gaping eyesockets leaked a fluid like gooey eggwhites as they caved back into his face.

She gagged, because now, the scent of disease was beginning to hurt--

_thy life must end_

--and she was getting dizzy; so, so dizzy. Was she really just _imagining_ this?

"Ineeduhsit," she gasped, collapsing into a convenient, cozy little armchair. This was all far too real.

"Lady Melodia!" the guard to her right cried, "Lady Melodia, are you all right?"

She regained her breath--

_Marno ar--_

_--_and smiled weakly, waving a narrow, pale hand dismissively at the slight, rather feminine, useless-looking guard her grandfather had sent to accompany her--his name was Jillian.

"No, no, I'm perfectly all right--" _thy life_ thy life_ **thy life **SEGINUS SYRMA DUBHE **GUILLO**_ "--it's just a bit chilly in here, is all. You need not worry."

Jillian nodded skeptically. "If you say so, milady. Shall we...shall we find and escort, or--"

"H-hey."

Both Jillian and Melodia jumped, although Jillian actually leaped into the air and, consequently, toppled to the floor. The man regarding them with a quirked eyebrow and a little smile held out his hand to him.

"Here, man; up ya go," he said casually, as if people went flinging themselves into the ground regularly (all ~Imperial Pride~ be damned), and Jillain grabbed it, muttering a little _thanks _as he grinned and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Melodia had a feeling that Jillian and this young man would get along nicely. The young man began to speak again. Melodia noticed his stutter this time.

"'m guessin I'll be takin you to the emperor. Jus' don't let 'im know I'm here. I b-blew him off too many time a couple-a years ago for him to not freak out. And b'lieve me, he does that too much to be healthy. Legal, even. Man's like a pot; always boilin' oe'er, as they say out in Sadal Suud." He smiled brightly, twirling a lock of hair between two fingers. Within seconds, it had become a loose braid.

"Yes, let's go," Melodia said, righting herself properly and smoothing down her skirt. The young man nodded; as did Jillain.

"B-by the way, th' name's Caro," he announced as they set off, still braiding and un-brainding his hair as he went. Melodia watched with mild interest as his fingers weaved through the strands with ease, twisting and knotting and undoing it, only for it to happen all over again. Caro never seemed to realize he was doing it.

"Heeeey!" He cried enthusiastically, stopping fast enough to send Jillian crashing into him and back onto the floor in a heap. Melodia sighed and helped him up as Caro looked over his shoulder, snickering, but not unkindly.

"All right there p-p-pardner?" He asked, smiling. Jillian nodded. "Well," Caro continued, "thisyere is room one-sixteen, eh-eh-emperor Geldoblame's been here since day...er...square...? Yeah, day one," he shrugged, "B-but I gotta go; sorry if it's rude, but I really haveta get goin and--"

"Caro?" A woman peeked out of the door, her spectacles shimmering in the light, "Are they he--oh. It seems," she gave a little wink behind the sparkling lenses, "I've already answered my own question, hmm?"

Caro smiled at her, "Looks 'n awful lot like it. Anywho, I was j-just sayin I gotta bust a move."

The woman returned it in a flash of her teeth and waved. "Then shoo, babe."

Caro stood to attention and saluted, grin growing wider, before turning and jogging in his dirty, boot-clad feet, down the hallway and out the doors, leaving trailing tracks of dried mud in his wake. Melodia heard him bump int someone on the way out and tried not to laugh. Muffled noise--a crash, a moan--erupted from the room as she raised her mouth to her lips to stifle a giggle, but it died in her throat. The woman excused herself quickly, her hair a sapphire wave as she leaped back into the room. Geldoblame's room. Melodia heard them talking quietly, heard movement; the rustle of cloth and the shuffling of feet.

"You know you're not supposed to get out of bed without someone, Geldoblame. You know--"

"Please," a voice, ragged and choked with tears, "Don't let her see me like this."

"What? Geldoblame, what--"

"--please!"

"...I'm sorry, but it's far too late for that." Genuine regret, but with stern discipline; almost as if speaking to a child who just _couldn't understand._

"No!"

"_Geldoblame--_"

"No! I...I can't...I..." A dry, broken sob.

A watery sigh. "Don't you cry, Geldoblame. Don't do it, all right?"

A sniffle, a scoff. "Yes...yes, alright."

Melodia peeked into the room through the inch-long space of open door. Geldoblame sat splay-legged with his back to the door next to his bed, jittering and shaking as he refused the woman's help. He gripped the rail at the side of the bed and tried to pull himself up, his muscles quaking and quivering with the effort until he gave up and the woman had to grip him around the middle to keep him from plummeting. He hung limply in her arms, his face hidden in shadow. Melodia wondered if she really wanted to see what it looked like. Images raced through her head and she mumbled _It's all in my head, it's _only_ in my head._ They left her and she continued to watch, Jillian now peering over her shoulder, a mildly bemused smile creeping onto his face.

The woman lifted Geldoblame into her arms with ease, looking almost like a rescuing knight holding their prized princess, and dropped him into the bed unceremoniously.

Melodia caught a glimpse of his face and her eyes widened. As the woman started for the door, she ushered Jillian away as she herself stepped back an ample distance so as not to seem _too _suspicious. The woman poked her head out of the room and waved them in, dissappearing back into the private ward, herself.

As Melodia stepped in she surveyed the room, almost uninterestedly. _Almost._ She observed the same whitewashed walls, the same flat, white ceiling, the same false purity. The difference was the scent of death. It thinned out in this room. It stank outside, even with the living, the happy, the joyous and the smiling all around them, it _stank. _And in here, in this room, it miraculously, thankfully slipped away out the open window. The window, where sunlight filtered through the glass and shone on the tiled floor in a warm, golden streak, glinting from every surface in a mockery of the outside world. _This room is full of small miracles, _Melodia found herself thinking, _this room is a miracle in itself, from it's plaque on the door to the sheets on the hospital bed._ Even from the lights on the ceiling to the man in the hospital bed, whom she could not bring herself to look at.

"My name is Ba'nee Mategro," the woman's voice brought Melodia away from her thoughts, "I've been taking care of him--" here Ba'nee gestured vaguely to Geldoblame; soundly asleep, although with his eyeballs racing and rolling under their lids; and scribbled something down on the clipboard in her lap "--for the past month or so."

Melodia nodded. "I see. My name is Melodia Calbren," Melodia knew that Ba'nee already knew this, but the sound of her name seemed to rouse Geldoblame, who's eyelids began to flutter as he mumbled drowsily, "With me is Jillian Killmutter."

Jillian stepped forward and bowed his head. "A pleasure."

Ba'nee surveyed them behind her glasses and smiled. "All mine."

Melodia didn't bother to return the smile, but nodded agian. She was beginning

_melodia_

to feel sick

melodia

her insides jumping, churning, cartwheeling

**melodia**

in anticipation.

Ba'nee cast a sideways glance at Geldoblame. "Well, well! Looks like His Royal Pain in the Ass is waking up," she looked over at him and grinned, "Fussy thing, aren't you? Up we go." Lifting him by the shoulders, Ba'nee helped the half-awake, half-asleep Emperor Geldoblame into a sitting position. Melodia cast her gaze away,

**YOU BETRAYED ME**

closing her eyes tightly.

"M-melodia...?"

Her throat was dry.

"Melodia..?"

She held her breath and counted to ten.

"Melodia?"

She opened her eyes--

"_Melodia!_"

--and there he sat. There he was, looking so disbelievingly at her with his big doe eyes, that godawful deer-in-the-headlight look that she had always hated

_it doesn't suit a man of power_

and loved

_but it looks so sweet_

so much. There he was, crawling toward her on weak knees, reaching out like a man in the desert who's just seen water for the first time in too, too long with shaking hands, crying her name with tears spilling from his damn eyes that she both wanted to gouge out and stare into forever. Melodia couldn't speak. She felt tears prick at her own eyes and tried to will them away, but they refused and she the felt salty, wet tears dripping, slipping, sliding down her cheeks.

"Geldoblame," she muttered, "Geldoblame?"

He reeled back now as if struck, hands plastered to his face, the skin over his cheekbones (so prominent in this new stranger-not-stranger's face) pulled taught.

"Melodia," he gasped, his voice a barely audible whisper, "Melodia, don't look at me."

"Geldoblame."

It was all she could say.

"Melodia, please, Melodia; close your eyes."

_Close your eyes,_ even when he himself couldn't even close his own.

"Geldoblame..."

He shook his head vigorously, _no, no, no, Melodia stop,_ and his nose began to bleed, splattering the sheets in crimson raindrops.

"No, Melodia. No..."

Tears mixed with the blood running down his face, dripping from his jaw. Melodia took a step forward and gripped his hands in her own. She couldn't speak and her own tears had dried. And now, she was going to dry his. He tried to pull away, clenching his eyes shut. Melodia saw Jillian make to jump between them and Ba'nee touch his shoulder, whispering to _Wait, just wait for them if you can feel it,_ in the corner of her eye and silently thanked the woman, because she _knew ._

"Geldoblame." She whispered, squeezing his hands--_I could break these so easily,_ she marveled--and bringing him closer. He whimpered, and then he stopped moving, stopped breathing for a moment.

And then he spoke.

_"I was beautiful _once,_Melodia.__" _


	9. The Bitch is Back to Whine —And Dine!—

THIS CHAPTER.

**THIS.**

**CHAPTER.  
**kerjtlwkee;lkewr;  
COCKS COCKS COCKS COCKS COCKS COCKS

It has taken me forever **and then some** to get out there! _Enjoy it, _or there will be headbusting, because holy fucking fuckity fuck I finished this at like 3 A.M. last night and I am a very tired, cranky Katana. 8(

oh also also also some of you may notice that —HOLY SHIT— Caro got a surname change! His old one was boring me. If you liked it for some reason, crai moar. I am extremely indecisive fuck off duckies ilu. Oh, and —OMG TRIVIA TEIM— who here knew that "Caro" is actually a girl's name? woooooo someone got beat up in the sixth grade holy shit

wait.

i don't think he has that kind of education. :/  
trivia is so much funnnnn let's have MOAR. maybe it'll keep people reading my bullshit. :D GIVE ME TRIVIA IDEAS GUYS OR IT'LL **ALL** BE ABOUT OSCAR WILDE AND APPARENTLY PEOPLE DON'T ENJOY ME RAMBLING ABOUT OSCAR CONSTANTLY. ;_;

SO. I think what I originally wanted to say was just "Happy Valentine's Day/SAD, enjoy the chapter!" but I got a little carried away with Caro's name and subpar intelligence. :D

FFFFFFFFFFFFF LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE IS LONG LIKE LONGCAT

—//—

Geldoblame sighed, stroking gingerly at his cheek and hissing at the friction against his seared skin. Beauty was a gift, he mused, a gift that he had squandered. He had been beautiful once, and only once. It was pointless to try again.

He thought briefly of his mother. He had always been told how he looked like her, how beautiful she was, how handsome he would come to be. He laughed bitterly, coughing and choking on his own misplaced mirth. _They were wrong._

He thought now of his father. How he remembered hating the man! And now, he knew that they would have looked all too alike, were the man alive. Dark half-moons under swollen, puffy eyes, shaking hands, lank tendrils of hair hanging into his face. He couldn't bear to look at his own reflection any longer. He was _worse_ than daddy dearest. He was scalded and burnt, charred and blackened.

Beauty was never forever, he supposed, and it had to be accepted. He could not go on hating himself until his time came, so it was best to live while he was granted the extra time.

Still, he wanted so desperately to be _pretty_ again, he wanted to—

"...Emperor?"

His mouth worked wordlessly for a moment before he managed to mumble a greeting. Ba'nee invited herself in and appeared to consider her options for a moment before sitting next to him and sighing. She reached over and picked up a rag from the counter, wringing it out. Geldoblame tipped his head back, almost obediently as she stood up. He hated the feel of blood crusting to his skin, hated that constricting, cracking, chipping slime. Ba'nee swiped the rag across his cheek and under his nose and he breathed deeply. He almost didn't want to admit it, but he was growing ever more grateful for the woman.

"Listen, Geldo." She tossed the rag back, where it landed with a faint _splat_ in the counter's basin.

He nodded, folding his hands on his chest and casting his eyes up to her with polite feigned interest. He no longer bothered to correct her informal use of his name, however distracting it was.

"You're, ah, not that bad to look at," she started sheepishly, shrugging, "better than before, at least. You...you _were_ beautiful once...I remember running into you on the street one day in Greater Mintaka, the year before the bombing..." She laughed tentatively, nervously, almost. "I fell, and you helped me up. You were wearing that ring," her lips quirked up in a small, reminiscent smile, "and it caught in my hair. You kept apologizing, even though I really hadn't even noticed." She sighed, pausing for a moment to brush a lock of hair from her face as she gestured faintly to the ring on the table by his bed, "All I'm saying is that you have a kind heart, however... corrupted it may have become."

Geldoblame elevated his non-existent eyebrows. Ba'nee rolled her eyes playfully, wiggling her own simply to tease him. He did nothing.

...there was something wrong with Geldoblame today. Ba'nee knew that Melodia had startled him, maybe even frightened him, but she hadn't insulted him or any of the like. Had she? He was, Ba'nee had dutifully observed, only this mopey and obedient when he had been insulted or was simply still too stupidly dignified to tell someone that he was in pain.

_That spoiled little girl! _Ba'nee had never liked Melodia. She had even less of a reason to now, now that she was looking after Geldoblame like a child every hour of every day. And now she had to look after Little Miss Malpercio? Give the girl a comb and she would occupy herself for hours with all that pretty hair. Ba'nee scowled, shoving her glasses up on the bridge of her nose as Geldoblame began to nod off beside her. There was still no doubt that he was just as spoiled as she was, of course, but Ba'nee had never been very keen on children in the first place. _Geldoblame isn't even a child. He's a big _baby_ more than half the damn time._

_No,_ she told herself._ Don't be so bitter,_ she told herself. _He can turn this around,_ she told herself, _because he knows that he deserves a second chance._

But Ba'nee's faith was beginning to waver. It had started failing her ever since she had first heard him talking in his sleep. He had been sobbing, he had been begging, he had been crying, and her heart, nearly broken, had gone out to him. He had been so weak and helpless, and she knew that it had been a terrible lapse of judgement to indulge him, to hold him and to talk to him. It had been _horrible, _and it had been just so horrible because, she realized, she had done something, said something, that quite simply had made Geldoblame stop _bitching_. If he wasn't bitching about something, he wasn't himself. Ba'nee had even gone the extra mile to call him Geldo. Surely, but _surely_he would have had a bitch_fit _over that!

But no. There was no bitching, there was no moaning, there was no whining, there was no scowling.

Obviously, Geldoblame was either sick, dying, depressed, or all three.

"Geldoblame?" Ba'nee started after another moment of silence.

His eyes snapped open and looked over at her expectantly, if a bit irritatedly.

"Someone...someone hurt you didn't they?"

Tears welled up in Geldoblame's eyes. He shook his head furiously.

"Don't lie to me," she snorted, adding quietly, "You've done enough lying already, you know."

Geldoblame bowed his head. His shoulders began to shake and shudder. He was shivering, holding back tears.

"Geldoblame." Ba'nee repeated sternly, "Just tell me. Who? Why? When? I need—"

"No," he growled, choking back a cry. "Stop."

It was an order, a demand...one she simply couldn't comprehend; one she couldn't follow. Not now.

"Someone... dear to you hurt you very much. Didn't they?"

"Stop!" He shouted, wringing his bandaged hands.

Ba'nee leaned forward in her seat, her eyes wide and her mouth running. "Where?" She was getting carried away now, she knew it, _horridly_ carried away, but there were the faintest echos in her mind that urged her to probe further—_Is he still in there? Where is he? Tell him I love him_—"Oh, you loved them, didn't you? And you lost them, _didn't you? _Was it because of Baelheit; was it in Taraz--"

"_Stop!_" Geldoblame shrieked, tears spilling in rivers from his wide, hysterical eyes as he stared up at her, completely mortified. He was shaking, wiping his eyes hurriedly, harshly.

Ba'nee let out a shaky rush of air and touched a hand to her lips, mouthing something silently behind her hand. "_Fuck._ I'm..._sorry,_" she gasped, "I got...c-carried away..."

There was a painfully long silence.

"...how did you...how did you know?" Geldoblame whispered finally.

"You..." She began, not completely sure of how to tell him, "You talk in your sleep sometimes."

His eyes widened.

"But you..." Ba'nee started again, "you remember things, don't you? They don't think REM sleep is good for you, but you're flooded with memories nonetheless. The drugs don't matter, even in high doses. I've convinced them to stop in the time being so you can rest fully." She concluded, shrugging.

She stared down at her feet, waiting for his reply. Clicked her heels against the tiled floor. Even with her sharp her click-clacking and the small sniffles and harsh breathing from Geldoblame, the room was still too silent.

He didn't speak for a moment, still wiping weakly under his eyes. He was bleeding again. "Yes." He looked up at her, now, looking stern, firm, detirmined. He wanted answers now.

"And you speak to me, don't you? I know people talk to me while I sleep. I am not deaf simply because I cannot see you." He spat. Ba'nee heaved another sigh, running her hands through her loose, frizzy hair.

"We all do, Geldoblame."

His eyes widened and he cocked his head, glaring weakly. "Why?"

"You're easier to talk to when you're asleep," she admitted, then snorted, "You aren't inclined to bitch about everything, for one thing."

He rolled his eyes and a smile began to persistently crack his lips; he fought it and lost. "That may be," he muttered, "But it's none of your business how I _feel._"

"Yes, it is. Mine being _physically, _anyhow. You have your first psych check-up with Eizich is in two days."

Geldoblame furrowed his brow. "_Psych check-up?_" He repeated broodily. "Is it quite as useless as it sounds?"

"Oh," she smirked, "_quite. _Eizich—Doctor Paine; you've met him—he wants to talk to you. He just wants to make sure you're happy; to make sure you're content and comfortable overall with your _caregivers,_ and make sure you're generally doing good and _spiffy._" She snorted. "He's also going to break out some _tests,_ if I'm not mistaken."

She stood, brushing herself off in that only-Alfardian, self-important way she had always watched other people do (and recalled once even going so far as to practice—_what a _girl_ I was!_), and strode to the counter, picking up the rag and rinsing it under warm water. "Don't be so rough with yourself, Geldoblame." She said, jerking her head in his direction. There was a thin, watery line of blood running down his cheek from under his eye. He scoffed. One eye was firmly clenched shut.

"Really." She insisted, wringing the cloth out again. She crossed the room and dabbed gently at his cheek, one hand on the back of his head to steady him. He breathed a small sigh. Ba'nee smiled weakly, for that was actually somewhat of a "thank you," in Emperor Land.

"Geldo."

"Tch."

"Shut up. I want to tell you a secret, alright?" _Since I've heard quite enough from you today..._

He sneered, folding his arms over his chest. Ba'nee scowled and dangled the dripping, gory scrap of cloth inches from his face—and more importantly, his _hair._

"If you don't stop looking so smug, _emperor,_ I _will_ drop this on you."

One hand shielding his head—for _dear life, _might I add—Geldoblame gave an indignant yelp and slapped her hand away viciously. Ba'nee snickered, winging the rag back across the room. This time, it splattered against the wall.

"Alright!" She started again, wiping her hands cheerily on Geldoblame's bedspread and resuming her comfy seat next to the bed, "Secret time."

Geldoblame, extremely unimpressed at her enthusiasm, _tch_ed again.

"Shut up," Ba'nee sang, grinning not-quite nastily. "Are you ready, then?"

"No. You could not prepare me for the shock about to hit me in ultimate, Ocean-rivaling waves. I am unprepared in the face of your explosive secret-telling."

"Oh _pffft_, Geldo."

He scowled. Ba'nee smiled.

"Well," she began briskly, "I actually kind of like this, I'll have you know. Taking care of you." She paused. "_Sometimes,_" she added quickly, "because you really can be a _child, _otherwise."

Geldoblame chuckled. "You're the child here. How old are you?"

"Well I _never!_" Ba'nee cried in mock-outrage before laughing herself and answering, "Twenty seven."

Geldoblame gave a small shrug of the shoulders. "Young, then. I remember when I was your age," he started, faltering for a moment. "I'm..." he started again, "not _going senile already._ Ha."

Ba'nee could have cursed the man, right here, right now. _Bipolar bastard! _Instead, she offered a sympathetic, if completely fake, nod. "I couldn't be the leader of an entire skyland at this age. If that's...worth anything." She shrugged.

"Of course it's not." Geldoblame spat back, "I know _you_ couldn't. They wouldn't allow _you._"

Ba'nee had sworn to stop grinding her teeth a long time ago, and this man was _not_ going to get her bad habits up and running again. She grinned nastily, her eyes glinting behind her spectacles, "Would _you _allow me?"

Geldoblame _pffft_ed and _tch_ed for a moment, stuttering and mouthing a few choice nasty words of his own before hissing, "But _I'm_ the emperor. I couldn't _possibly_."

Ba'nee sneered at him.

"Alright, fine. I'll let you win _this_ game."

"We were playing a _game?_ That was no _fun._"

"Shut up." Ba'nee said dryly, adding, "_Again,_" for good measure. He rolled his eyes, tucking a bit of hair behind one ear.

"Now, Emperor Geldoblame," she crooned, in her best, sickly sweet _I'm-a-Pretty-Nurse~_ voice, "don't forget about your arrangement with Doctor Paine!"

Geldoblame groaned. "I don't much care for that man," he hissed. "Or that _voice._"

"Join the club," Ba'nee said, grinning, "But there's _precisely _why you can't let on you're still...mmm, _dreaming, _in a sense. He'll drug you into a coma if he thinks emotions and such can get in the way. I've seen it happen. He's one of those crazies that hates Heartwings and human emotion and _sanity_ in its natural habitat. Not like yours is quite _gripping,_ itself, but I digress. The man's really rather like Bael—"

"Please don't?" Geldoblame interjected suddenly, holding up a hand and touching it to his chest. "I beg of you."

Ba'nee faltered awkwardly for a moment. "How about...like ah, You-Know-Who did, then?"

Geldoblame shrugged.

Ba'nee nodded and continued. "Oh, but he's worse by so much, and he's _utterly _old-school. I've heard some guy that used to worship that old spiriter war-hero guy has been pissing around lately and bothering him with 'improper use of machina' or some such."

Geldoblame smiled (quickly catching himself and flipping it into a scowl). "'That old spiriter war-hero guy?'" He repeated, scoffing.

"Yes, well... the name escapes me, honestly." Ba'nee laughed sheepishly.

Geldoblame gave yet another practiced roll of the eyes. "Don't be daft, girl. You should know. I..." His throat grew unexpectedly dry for a moment. He cleared his throat, blinking, "I worked for the man."

"...don't tell me. I know it started with a K. I'm positive!" Ba'nee shot up out of her chair, her hair whipping out behind her. "_K!_" She repeated insistantly at Geldoblame's rather appalled expression.

Geldoblame, recovering from his momentary shock, shook his head and chuckled. "I think _you're_ the one being drugged."

Ba'nee plopped back down into the chair by the bed and propped her chin up in her hand. "Fine, _fine._ Give me a clue."

Geldoblame smiled weakly and turned to her, finally embracing his chance to play the Persistently Patient Teacher for once. "It started with a V, dear."

"Virus."

"..._really?" _Geldoblame snorted._ "_Come now; Quaestor—"

"Verses?"

"No. Not even close. Ver—"

"—Verus!" Ba'nee shouted. She started to laugh and sank down in her chair, running her fingers through her hair restlessly as she nearly slid out of her seat. "How did I forget _him?_ Oh, Skies..."

_I didn't know the cookycrazy types were forgotten so easily._

The name brought a wide smile to Geldoblame's lips. "I didn't think you'd catch on this quick," he chided.

Ba'nee smirked, regaining her composition with a dramatic, defeated sigh. "You play a good game, my dear Emperor Geldoblame, but you are no match for myself!" she sang.

"Oh, we'll see."

"We'll see, yes. Maybe when you come back from dinner with Melodia?" She snickered, standing and brushing herself off.

Geldoblame's eyes widened. "What?"

"Melodia wants to _dine _with you." Ba'nee explained, facetiously flicking a hand in his direction. "I assumed you'd be fine with it, but you'll need assistance walking. I invited myself and a... a soldier along. Think of him as... a bodyguard of sorts."

Geldoblame sighed. "...as long as you don't ruin the evening, then I suppose you'll be acceptable. In other words, _behave_ or I'll have this _bodyguard of sorts_ remove you."

"I could say the same to you."

"Oh,_ we'll see._"

As she left the emperor's private room, Ba'nee grinned triumphantly to herself.

_It seems the bitch has returned to wine. And dine!_

—//—

"_Geldo_blame_._"

His eyes snapped open as he felt his feet slip out from under him and he writhed in the grip securing him from behind; he felt himself growing queasier by the second.

"What's happening?" He croaked.

"I _told_ you we should have talked her _out _of this;" Ba'nee's familiar lilt hissed urgently from behind him, "it'll kill him!"

"D-duh-don't blame _me!_" A new voice moaned as the arm around Geldoblame's waist tightened its grip, causing him to actaully emit a small squeak. "It wasn't my idea to cart him out here, 'nee."

"Yes, well—_bugger,_ Caro, you're going to choke him if you squeeze that tight! Don't put so much pressure on the—"

"D-don't _yell_ at me!"

"Oh, let me have him."

"Y-you cuh-can't hold him up!"

"Fuck _you,_ I can't, sweetie!"

Geldoblame's hands twitched and his fingers curled into fists. "Shut UP, both of you!" He cried, struggling in Caro's grip, "I told you to behave!" He howled at Ba'nee, his eyes wild and panicked, his lips atremble. He ran both narrow, bandaged hands through his hair in a dizzy sort of panic, letting out a loud hacking cough that made Caro flinch and _desperately_ want to wash his hands.

"Geldoblame," Ba'nee whispered, stepping closer—her shoes click-clacking maddeningly—and bending down to look into his dark, frantic eyes. Caro coughed and stared at the ceiling awkwardly, as per his usual, as she started again.

"_Geldoblame._"

He blinked.

"Come now," she scoffed, "you're usually eager to see her, aren't you?"

Blink.

"Oh, for fuck's _sake, _Geldoblame, answer me with _words._"

Blink, blink.

"Caro!" Ba'nee bawled, her glasses falling askew and her hands flying to her hair, "Take him! Take him before I kill him!"

Geldoblame blinked enthusiastically once more, sneering suggestively at Caro. The soldier's hands were promptly plastered to his face in horror. "Duh-do I—do I really h-have to?" He whimpered.

"_Yes."_Ba'nee sighed, "He—"

"I've...been waiting."

The party jumped; Geldoblame let out a sharp hiss, fingers twitching.

"It's wonderful to see you..." Melodia surveyed them, a sneer playing about her shining red lips, "up and _about_ yet again, Your Magnificence."

Geldoblame battled with his body, trying not to flinch.

"I almost fail to recognize you." She confessed with a breathy little sigh, twirling a lock of hair about her index finger, "You look so...different now."

Geldoblame stared at the floor, refusing to meet her eyes. "Yes, my dear."

Melodia glanced over at Caro and Ba'nee; Caro lifted Geldoblame up again, shrugging as Ba'nee smoothed her hair down.

"Let's go, then."

—//—

"You aren't eating."

"I know, Melodia."

Melodia made a sour little face. He fingernails scraped along the tabletop, screeching softly. She didn't take any notice. Geldoblame's remaining skin _crawled._

"Why not?"

He closed his eyes and his fingers gave another little twitch. "I am not hungry," he replied simply.

"That's awfully unlike you." Melodia giggled, and Geldoblame looked at her for the first time all night. She drew in a sharp gasp, and her nails raked down the side of the table, paint flakes and wooden splinters flying in their wake.

His eyes were different.

His big, dark eyes had changed somehow. They no longer held their enticing, sneering, sultry gaze, they no longer had that little glint in them that could tell the entire Sky that the emperor was up to something, and they no longer seemed to recognize her. They were weary, dull, frightened eyes. Dark bags drooped beneath them, and, all make-up forsaken, their lids were red and raw. Geldoblame had no eyelashes, no eyebrows. To Melodia, he might as well have had no eyes. She averted her gaze, and Geldoblame followed suit.

—//—

"H-hey, um...wh-where'd y' get that wine?"

"From _Youcanthaveany__. _Very foreign."

"Imported?"

"Mmm."

Ba'nee popped the cork from a bottle of red wine and, after inspecting it to her taste, took a long swig. Caro blinked.

"Y'need a glass?" He asked incredulously, eyebrows shooting up behind his bangs. Ba'nee swallowed and grinned roguishly at him.

"_Proper _Azhani never do, hon."

—//—

Geldoblame bit his lip, searching his (superior) imperial mind for conversation topics. "And how is the Duke?" He asked, casually after a moment.

Melodia shrugged. "Grandfather is...he is well."

"Well?"

"_Well,_" Melodia started, "he is overprotective, overbearing, and as much as he insists that he is so _supportive_ of my decisions, he's still trying to pull me this way and that to his _own_ will—I think he's...suspicious. Of you!"

"Of _me?_" Geldoblame asked incredulously, laying a hand across his chest.

"Of_ you!_" Melodia insisted.

"Ah," he began with a small sigh, "but do you suppose he thinks he has a right? A reason?"

"He _supposes _he does," Melodia hissed, "but he's wrong!" She slammed her pale, flower-like—if surprisingly srtong—little hands down on the table, "And _that's_ what is so infuriating! He _thinks_—"

Geldoblame flinched back in his chair rather violently, his hair falling into his face in messy, heavy curls and thin strands. "Please," he gasped, "d-don't do that."

He hadn't meant to stutter. Geldoblame glanced away quickly, staring down at the tabletop. Melodia followed suit, glaring sullenly, unblinkingly at her silverware—more specifically, the knife and fork.

She could see them, one in each of His Magnificence's eye sockets, very, very clearly.

Melodia blinked, and promptly resumed her earlier sort of unconsciously shredding the tabletop.

—//—

"Uh, I—I, ummm, I—"

"—uhhh, you, ummmm _what?_"

"Umm—"

"—words. Say _any words._"

"Uh! W-w—wh—umm—"

"—_any words will do._"

Caro cleared his throat, determined.

"...um?" He sheepishly whimpered after a long moment of silence.

Ba'nee's face met her palm with a loud smack that made Geldoblame jump and swivel around irritably somewhere in the middle of the room. Caro stifled a giggle.

"_Words_," Ba'nee insisted again, her voice slightly muffled against her palm. Caro shrugged.

Finally: "D-d'you th-think we really should've let this, uh, h-happen?" He nodded to the flailing Geldoblame (and slightly unnerved Melodia) in the center of the room, gesturing vaguely.

"...had to. 'sides, no one's even leaving the hospital." Ba'nee shrugged, "We _had to_."

"Wh-why?" Caro asked quietly, flicking his bangs out of his eyes and blinking.

Ba'nee took another swig of wine, drumming her fingers on the floor and sliding down the wall slightly, back curving uncomfortably against the paneling. "B'cause," she started with a hiccup, "Geldobl-b-bluh— _Geldo _—gets what Geldo wants. 's'not like we could stop him seein' 'er."

Caro nodded and shrugged again; his bangs dropped back over his eyes like shaggy, frayed green curtains and he snorted irritably at them, brushing them away once more. He watched Ba'nee struggle to sit upright for a moment before setting for laying back on the tiled floor, her frizzy hair in her face as she continued to attempt to see straight enough to drink. She shook her head and swore loudly as it bashed into the wall, tilting her glasses violently askew.

"...you are s-so smashed," Caro snickered, poking at her shoulder playfully. She swore again, rubbing at her head, and there was a faint giggle from Melodia, accompanied by a "Bite your_ tongue!_" from a particularly irate emperor (to which she replied with "Bugger _you!_" and a bout of throaty, racious laughter).

"S-seriously," Caro insisted, "y' sh-should gettup. C-can't—"

"—floors're cleaner than a virgin's bedsheets, honey," Ba'nee challenged with another tiny hiccup.

Caro blushed. Ba'nee giggled.

"D-doesn't matter. Y-you'll h-hurt yer back or somethin'."

"Don't s'pose I should try to stand up by m'self." She clicked her heels impatiently against the floor and tucked her messy hair behind her ears, adding, "I fucking hate _standing_," for good measure.

—//—

"This is _unbelievable._" Geldoblame hissed, twisting around in his chair, "I specifically told them to _behave,_ and—"

Melodia sighed moodily, jabbing sullenly at a speck on her mostly-empty plate with a perfectly manicured, _sharp_ nail.

"Yes?" Geldoblame groaned, running a hand through his hair, "What are you—what are they _doing_—?"

"What are _you _doing?" Melodia snapped.

"I—"

"—don't _answer_; it was solely rhetorical_._" She snorted, rolling her eyes. "And why are _you_ so concerned? _You,_ of all people in the world should be concerned with—" me _me_ **ME** "—other things! Your _Magnificence,_" she growled, "there is something I simply cannot understand about you now."

Geldoblame looked up, warily. Melodia wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Yes, my dear?"

"Why, pray tell, do you flinch only from _my_ touch?"

There was an uneasy silence, only broken by quiet curses and laughter from the corner (where a certain two people were supposed to be dutifully watching over the events of the evening, and needless to say, they had found something more entertaining).

"You are like a kicked bunnykitten." Melodia continued matter-of-factly, "It's disgusting."

Geldoblame heaved a sigh, propping his chin up in his fist. "More than kicked," he corrected, "burnt to a crisp and supremely mangled, as well."

"And I suppose this is _my _fault?" Melodia barked suddenly, her hand gripping the fork deathly tight.

"Dear, I would never—"

"—of course you would, you loathsome _thing;_ from the bottom of your black, sinful heart: you're certainly _insane _enough!"

"My dear girl, you're _killing_ me! What in the world brought this—"

Melodia let out a shriek of laughter and bent down low, low over the table, grinning widely, "_I'm_ killing _you?_ Haven't I already?"

"Melodia, _please_—"

"—but oh _no!_ You're a blasted _miracle, _Geldoblame! It makes me _sick_—everyone, _everyone_—even _you!_—is defying the divinity of the _will_ of Mal—"

Geldoblame scrambled to his feet as if he were a marionette being jerked violently, suddenly upward. Leaning heavily on the table, his arms nearly giving under his own weight, he hissed venomously, "Don't you dare speak that name, Melodia."

She blinked.

There was another long, uneasy silence as Geldoblame swayed on his feet and collapsed back into his chair, quite nearly exhausted. Back in the corner, Caro and Ba'nee determined that someone was going to have to go over and deal with them. Ba'nee argued that she was too drunk. Caro argued that he didn't want to.

Melodia shoved her empty plate to the side, laid her head down on the table, and began to weep.

"Geldoblame," she gasped between small sobs, "my dear Emperor Geldoblame...I am...so sorry. P-please, you—you have my deepest—"

"—it's...it's perfectly alright my dear girl." Geldoblame interrupted, reaching slowly across the table to clasp Melodia's hand affectionately. "I—"

"—wh-what's g-goin' _on_ over here?"

Geldoblame sighed. "_Nothing, _my dear boy."

Caro sputtered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "Y-yeah, b-b-but--"

"—_but_nothing, my darling Sargent _Caro D. C. LaDuf,_" the older man insisted with a small, challenging sneer. Caro blinked. _Oh fuckity fuck. He remembers my name?_

"...y' make yer girlfriend cry and yer sayin it's nothin'?" Caro asked sheepishly. (This earned a weak, muffled giggle from Melodia, rather to the emperor's dismay).

"She," Geldoblame began haughtily, "is _so_ not my girlfriend."

—//—

"She _is_ his girlfriend, right?"

"Naw."

"...ruh-really?"

"Yup," Ba'nee confirmed, "'cuz Geldoblame is the biggest—excuse my language—the biggest fuckin' _poufter _I have ever met. And y'gotta love 'im when he isn't being a sunburned old _cunt._"

Caro snorted. "I dunno. I was k-kinda hoping he'd...g-got off it? Y'know?"

"He's "_got off_," arright," she teased, watching semi-interestedly as Caro began blushing furiously, "an' he seems to like _you_..._dear boy._"

"I—I always, uh, blew 'im off when he, um, acks'd fer me."

"Oh?"

"...I, uhm, h-heard some stuff."

Ba'nee snickered drunkenly. "Hasn't everyone?"

"..Iguesso."

"Sure y'do."

Caro smiled faintly, feeling adventurous. Ba'nee was beaming.

"Y'know what else I—I, uh, g-guess?"

"Hmm?"

"I. Um....uhh..."

Ba'nee giggled. "Seriously, honey. _Words._"

Caro flushed. "Uh, I really-really-really, um, like you, an'—"

"—really-really-really?"

"Really-really-really!"

Ba'nee hiccupped. "...wow."

"Is'sat... bad?"

"Nope!"

"So..." Caro started, brushing his bangs from his yes for what seemed the thousandth time that night, "can I...kiss ya?"

Ba'nee seemed to ponder this. Caro crossed his fingers behind his back and bit his lip. He was feeling brave, but not brave enough for _this._ Oh gosh oh gosh oh _gosh,_ he was terrible with silences, and he—

"Read my lips, sweetie."

—he had thought _he_ was going to be the one kissing _her,_ but... okay.


End file.
